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Diptheria, Tetanus & Polio

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We've just had our appointment through for The Boy's pre school booster innoculations.

We've discussed the MMR booster at length & researched on the net & decided that The Boy's not having that for definite.

However, what I hadn't realised, is that they now also give Diptheria, Tetanus & Polio as a three in one jab too.

Have any of your little ones had this? Any adverse effects that you spotted? TBH I think we probably will go with the Dip, Tet and Polio one, but def not MMR.

You don't have to read any further if you don't want to - the rest doesn't give any further info is just me ranting and raving

Just to get it off my chest - my HV is the most patronising, condescending, annoying, git of a woman in the whole world.............and she has a hairy chin. Her first few words to me - just a few weeks after birth of baby when was feeling a bit blue - were all around "what, you're not breast feeding" and "what, you're going back to work" she was all very "I had four children, breast fed them all, gave up my job to stay at home and be a proper mother, brought them up like children should be with mother at home" (presumably scattering errant breast milk all over the place whilst she was at it.)

Bloomin horrible woman. She's just had a go at me on the phone - "I rang you at home, but then I remembered that you are one of those working mums ha ha ha ha". She always does that, makes out it's a joke so it's not actually anything you could report her for.

Then I got

"what, not having the MMR booster? You don't believe it caused your son's autism do you?"

"no, but I am not convinced about the necessity of the booster nor am I sure about how it affects the gut of children that ARE autistic, so we won't be having that one"

"I'll send you a leaflet, that will give you all the information so you can make an informed choice"

I didn't argue. She can send as many flaming leaflets as she wants, but he's still NOT having the MMR.

AND she calls me "dear" on the phone all the time - how annoying is that from someone who's probably only about 5 or 6 years older than me?

Right, done now, feel better, thanks for listening - a response to the earlier question would be much appreciated thankyou!

Edited July 25, 2006 by Jill

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No advice but would be interested in the responses. We have just received a reminder for the Diptheria, polio and tetanus booster given during the last school year before 16. Since our GP has already said that he would not be happy for A to have it at the surgery but would want him to have it at the hospital and for him to remain there all day for observation I have severe misgivings. Don't ever remember having a polio and diptheria booster at school leaving age myself, is this a new thing?

Jill I agree your HV sounds really patronising.

Edited July 25, 2006 by Tez

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My son had his preschool booster polio/dip/tet, I understand that it is a true booster and the MMR is a catch up to cover any that didnt "take", my son seems to be set back by anything inc. illness otherwise he is as before nothing major. He never had the MMR we went private and had them seperate and he prob. wont have the second lot but never say never! By the way my health visitor came out with such basic nonsense sort of stuff you get out of a Ladybird book, she never told me anything I didnt know when I was 12 and she said there was nothing wrong with my son!

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I have decided against my daughter getting a booster of the DPT jab. She reacted very badly to to these injections at age 3 and 4 months and I've always had a very bad feeling that 'something' happened at that time if you know what I mean. I don't know what I'd do if she hadn't had these previous reactions however - go with your gut instinct and that should be right.

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Does your HV have an elder sister in my neck of the woods ? I had exactly the same treatment ( we don't talk anymore !)

I refused them all but would maybe have considered DTP if our area had had the DTaP( the attenuated whooping cough, not a live vaccine ) that said, I had a bad reaction to whooping cough jab 40 years ago so I think I would still have declined, given the mumbo jumbo advice offered.

I think we deserve a full explanation of the facts, not " I have nursed a child with diptheria, whooping cough ...etc.

It's a difficult decision,

I still worry about it now ( but I can say that our GP only asked me once about the boosters and when I declined, he just said "that's fine" and I never been asked again ! )

Diptheria is not common in the UK (two deaths since the 1980s and most cases are people who've entered the UK from Afica or the Indian sub-continent), tetanus can be given if the need arises (do you have pets or live on a farm?) and according to research in the BMJ pertussis (p for pertussis- whooping cough) is common in the UK whether you have been vaccinated or not.

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I now feel less worried about not having any boosters for my youngest, it's down to a slight niggle

I'd got myself in such a tizz about this topic (boosters were due just as we started assessment process) that I'd manged to convince myself that youngest had had mmr booster but not dtp, in actual fact, he had neither

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Hmmm, that's real food for thought & I thank you for posting. I reckon I am going to discuss this with hubby tonight again and reconsider. We may still go ahead with the DTP but now I am not so sure.

Thanks again for the info - it's appreciated.

Also, I know it sounds soppy, but I HATE that part when you are in the doctors, holding your child so that this stranger can stick a sharp object into him that hurts & makes him feel ill later. Unless I am 100% sure the benefits are worthwhile it's not something I want to subject myself or him to.

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My 4 year old has had the DTP booster but not the MMR. The new DTP booster is supposed to be better than the older one as it doens't contain mercury, the polio is a inactive vaccine (as opposed to a live one with oral polio) and as there are less components to the new vaccine compared to the older one if it less likely to give reactions. My son has had his immunity to the MMR diseases checked and I'll only have that one done if his immunity to measles is low.

Re pertussis circulating the community in vaccinated child. That is correct but in children who had vaccinated it is a far less serious disease (presenting with persistent cough) than in a child who is not immune. The fact it is still so prevalent would make me worry about non-immune children being exposed

Lx

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Re pertussis circulating the community in vaccinated child. That is correct but in children who had vaccinated it is a far less serious disease (presenting with persistent cough) than in a child who is not immune. The fact it is still so prevalent would make me worry about non-immune children being exposed

Lx

We don't know why the symptoms appear weaker. It's not possible to conclude that it's because they've been immunised.

When I read this research it made complete sense of my immunised daughter's last visit to the GP, two winters ago, for a persistant cough. The locum GP was ready to prescribe asthma medication without further investigation, but we just took the anti-biotics and it eventually cleared up - 16 weeks was about right.

Forgot to say that the DTaP does seem to be 'safer'. The Geiers did some research on it a few years ago.

Edited July 28, 2006 by call me jaded

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Well we've decided not to have either. The ultimate thing that swung us.............the leaflets the HV sent! These leaflets were intended to persuade us to have both boosters but we read them and thought "so that's the strongest case they can put forward to have these?" Not at all convinced of the necessity.

At the end of the day, the risk of the innoculations affecting him adversely seems much higher to me than the risk of contracting the diseases.

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Diptheria is not common in the UK (two deaths since the 1980s and most cases are people who've entered the UK from Afica or the Indian sub-continent), tetanus can be given if the need arises (do you have pets or live on a farm?) and according to research in the BMJ pertussis (p for pertussis- whooping cough) is common in the UK whether you have been vaccinated or not.

Added to which there is undisputed agreement that exposure to DTP makes already existing neurological Vaccines contain ingredients such as antifreeze, phenol (used as a disinfectant), formaldehyde (cancer causing and used to embalm), aluminum (associated with alzheimer?s disease and seizures), glycerin (toxic tconditions more apparent (which translates as autistic children can be more autistic).

Jaded I must say u r a woman after my own heart. I witnessed first hand the reaction of my daughter at pre-school boosters she was given a cocktail of DtP (containing thimersol MMR and Meningitis in the one sitting. She lost all speech, eye contact - kept messing herself screaming. As for the DTP the Tetanus is the only one which causes concern. the "D" in western society (unless u r planning a safari ) and "P" part seems ununnecessary in my opinion

For both my kids no further immunisations is now the way we go on. Also I refuse antibiotics unless its life threatening - so far thank gawd that situation hasnt arisen.

A couple of years back i attended a talk on MMR given by Paul Shattock at Univeristy of Sunderland. He has done extensive research on Gulf War Syndrome. He said that the Peritusis (whooping cough) vaccine was given to troops to help antharax vaccine take. It seems the pertusis vaccine helps the body accept other vaccines. He mentioned a paper which he had struggled to get published which he said seems to indicate that the pertussis seems to be changing things at a genetic level (inherited conditions in children born to the troops). I dont know whether he ever managed to get the paper published but I clearly remember my blood running cold at this statement.

Maybe in years to come mankind will look back at this period in our history and realise the damage that has been done in the name of progress.

I would love to travel into the future to see if this will be the case and how long its going to take and just what is going to be done to help the multitude of children and adults affected worldwide.

Mind u would also be looking up lottery results too.

Obviously its down to individual choice as to whether or not people decide to go ahead and immunise their kids. All I can suggest is that you ask your HV or Immuniser for a copy fo the "Manufacuturers leaflet" which comes with the vaccine. These are normally a lot more imformative than the bumph supplied by the NHS Health Authority who try to paint a rosey picture and downplay possible reactions.

Getting your hands on a copy fo this leaftlet or if u know manufacturer (there are online versions of these available)

There are other ingredients which are often used in the production of of vaccines which you should be aware of - in most cases the manufacuturers will list the ingredients so u will know exactly whats in it - and therefore be able to make an informed choice.

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my opinion is a little one sided because im certain my kids autism is caused by genetic reasons.

when my eldest son was first born, 5 days old he was back in hospital for jaundice and poor feeding.

whilst i was there, i witnessed a little baby boy about 9 months old with whooping cough. the poor little mite couldnt stop coughing and there were machines bleeping all the time and nurses running in and out of his room. that vision 12 yrs ago never left me. to see first hand how serious some of these viruses can be, i vowed that every single one of my kids would have all their vaccinations. IF vaccinations could be a contributory factor for autism, i would rather they had that than suffer from the possible side effects from the virus's or even die. this is just my opinion of course. i would never knock anyone elses decisions, its a very personal decision to make. all three of my kids have ASD. caused by vaccinations or not, i would still rather have them as they are.

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I don't know anything about childhood vaccines but I had the combined polio/tetanus/diptheria jab last year as an adult when I needed a tetanus booster after a dog bite.

The jab didn't hurt at all (and I'm a big wuss with medical things) and there were no after-effects at all. I remember last time I had a tetanus I had a very uncomfortable heavy/constricted feeling in my arm - nothing like that this time.

I asked the nurse how come it was a combined jab now instead of the foul-tasting liquid you used to get for polio. Apparently they don't use 'live' vaccines any more because there are so many people on strong drugs (mainly cancer and HIV treatments) that kill them and render them ineffective. I didn't really get to the bottom of the combination other than for cost purposes, but as all my vaccines were due I figured one jab would get the whole ordeal over with much quicker.

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I don't know anything about childhood vaccines but I had the combined polio/tetanus/diptheria jab last year as an adult when I needed a tetanus booster after a dog bite.

The jab didn't hurt at all (and I'm a big wuss with medical things) and there were no after-effects at all. I remember last time I had a tetanus I had a very uncomfortable heavy/constricted feeling in my arm - nothing like that this time.

I asked the nurse how come it was a combined jab now instead of the foul-tasting liquid you used to get for polio. Apparently they don't use 'live' vaccines any more because there are so many people on strong drugs (mainly cancer and HIV treatments) that kill them and render them ineffective. I didn't really get to the bottom of the combination other than for cost purposes, but as all my vaccines were due I figured one jab would get the whole ordeal over with much quicker.

hi my son on the autistic spectrum and he due to have a booster for diptheria tetanus and polio and i just decided that he not going to have them, if they want want him to stay in the clinic for 20 minutes afterwards then there must be a good reason for that so i not taking him after all its our choice not there's and if he had a reaction then it would me my fault so i not going to have it.

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if they want want him to stay in the clinic for 20 minutes afterwards then there must be a good reason for that

Yes there is a good reason - because some (and we're talking a tiny fraction) people may experience an anaphylactic type reaction to the vaccine - and by being at the clinic they would be able to administer drugs and have trained professionals available to reverse the reaction. But it is a tiny fraction of the population that may have such a reaction - in the same way all medications have side-effects. It is also fully reversible. If he were to get tetanus or polio through not being vaccinated, the effects would not be reversible.

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I've had a couple of vaccinations recently where I had to wait afterwards in case I had a reaction. I got the impression it's just standard procedure rather than a sign that something is likely to go wrong.

My grandad is severely physically disabled as a result of polio, cannot stand at all and has to use a nebuliser several times per day to help him cough up mucus from his lungs, and could easily be killed by minor respiratory infections. My uncle spent three years in hospital with the disease and has had lifelong issues with his legs and back which are becoming quite serious now. He is only in his late fifties. So surviving the disease is not the end of it.